Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, proudly brought to you by Crocketsceptic for
this June 13th, 2025, of your host James J. Mailov here, welcoming in to the studio, our
friend Maggie Maleski.
Oh, did I get the right?
Maleski?
It's been a while, so I want to make sure.
Maggie, it's good to see you.
It's been too long.
How have you been?
I have been great.
How about yourself?
Doing good, doing good.
We're enjoying the summer around here and having some fun with a bunch of different events
and things going on and speaking of, we have got some great events to highlight today
with our visit with Wisconsin Rapids Bureau and a big shout out to them and thank you to
them and the whole team over there.
And appreciate you being here to be able to kind of like first to really take our time
with some of these.
We try to highlight a lot of events going on in our morning show and that and I just feel
like we'd never have enough time.
So it's great to have you in studio and to be able to focus on some of this.
Where do you want to begin though?
That's the, I didn't know where to begin.
You got so much going on.
Well, this is, I'm mostly about cranberry blossom furs.
Right, right.
So the blossom furs event is always the third weekend of June, which is absolutely fabulous
because you can just go third week.
There we go.
Make your plans.
Make your plans.
Yeah.
It's going to be, it's going to happen.
So this year we have 17 individual events, although it goes four days and some of those
events run three days, some run two days, some only run for two hours.
Yeah.
But if you get yourself a brochure, handy dandy brochure, we've got them all to a lot
of different places.
The convention and visitors bureau down in Second Street would probably be your best bet
to get one.
But keep it near and dear and mark off the things that you want to go to.
So I've meant, I've said this for years and I mean this with nothing but love and
respect to every event that happens in our area.
I do believe this is Wisconsin Rapids signature event.
I think this is the event that really brings so many people to our community.
And I say this in part as a bit of a transplant, me and my family coming here about 20 some
years ago and everything and really getting this speed to see this almost from a third perspective
over the years, seeing this event.
When my family and I were first in town here, we loved so many different things about
the watersky show tournament and different things that we were first really getting to
know.
And then this happened and we're like, whoa, we didn't know that you could fit this
many people in this town.
And since then, it's been that way.
This event only gets bigger and more popular and it's something that really does bring
so many such a wide range of ages and different types of people to our community.
We got a lot of great events, but most of those are kind of like, well, if you love water
skiing, you're going to come up for the water skier tournament and maybe not if you don't
like it.
This event, there is literally something for everybody, every age range, friends, family.
There's nothing you can't have fun with with this event.
It is our signature event.
Exactly.
And that's what we strive for.
We want to make it family friendly, even though there's one or two things that the kids
may not want to go to, they could come.
It's still family friendly.
It's not like it's not, but yes, we, like I said, the 17 events, we go, we have a brand
new one this year.
It's called dive into the world of whale.
I'm so glad you want to talk about this.
I'm so excited about this.
And it's hosted by Encourage and the City of Wisconsin Rapids.
It's going to happen at the zoo.
So you're going to step inside a 65 foot life size inflatable whale.
And journey the world of whales.
Yeah.
How much fun is that?
It's amazing.
It's amazing.
I already see the lines of kids just getting excited.
Oh, and I should warn everybody, I will be there.
I'm going to be in line, even if it's just me and a bunch of eight year olds, I'm going
to be there.
This is so cool.
It's such an interesting thing.
I'm going to be there too.
Right?
I'm very excited about that.
A big appreciation to Encourage and the Helen Meade Fund for doing this.
They were just in the other day and we were talking about some of these things.
A big shout out to them.
And certainly to the zoo hosting this and having it, a really fun part of this.
And I just thought of something and I apologize in that beginning here.
If you are new to the area or if you're new to the cranberry blossom fest, this is a big
part of what I love about this event is it's not necessarily in one set location and
you have these certain things going on at that location.
Nothing wrong with that.
But if you're going to have a community signature event, you want the whole community involved.
Exactly.
And you're going to hear Mag and I talking about that where you're different locations
and different things going on during this event, during these times, that really helps
celebrate our whole area.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
The one thing that's great about the cranberry blossom festival, I'm the president of
the board.
That's all I do.
Each one of these events is run by its own group.
Yeah.
Right?
So if somebody is running the dairy berry breakfast, that's their deal.
You know, they make sure that it runs well, plus they get the proceeds from it, okay,
to help their group.
This year, the Grand Rapids Lions Club has taken over the dairy berry breakfast.
I think this is their second year.
Yeah.
And it's out at Lincoln High School on Friday morning.
So you know, absolutely got to that.
It's a great, great breakfast.
Yes.
You know.
And it's a great point, a great thing to bring up as well about this.
And another reason why I call it a signature event, I feel pretty confident there's nothing
that brings in the economic impact that these, these, these couple of days do for, and
especially for businesses out there, that may not see this kind of traction, this kind
of traffic as often.
Right.
It's really important for those aspects too.
And wonderful for our area too.
It's something that this area does better than most, I believe, and having a good time
for a good cost, you know.
Absolutely.
It's a really, really, it's just a lot of fun.
I mean, you know, there's, there's a very fast raffle that the grant about the lioness
run.
It's, it's ongoing already.
You'll see them at Ace Hardware, you'll see them at the IGAs, you'll see them all over
the place selling their raffle tickets.
And again, they're raising money for the lionesses programs.
Yeah.
So that's how it works.
The material girls quilt show.
Yeah.
Growing by, I heard that.
Yeah.
Growing, they, you know, they started out at one place, they ended up at Assumption High
School.
Now it seems to be a great fit for them.
Cool.
They have a record number of quilts already this year to be shown.
That's impressive.
With just a lot of other fun things to do, you know, it's not just going in and walking
around and looking at quilts, you might see somebody creating a quilt.
You know, they've, in the past, I'm not sure that he's going to be there this year.
Kind of hope so.
There was a group that would fix your sewing machine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Awesome.
I tried last year to find somebody and I couldn't find somebody for mine, so I'm probably
going to take it over there.
I don't blame her there.
I'm going to tell my mom about that.
She is my grandmother's hand that hers down to her and stuff, and I don't think it works.
I think she'd like to know that.
I'm going to make sure that.
Yeah.
There's so many great events going on every, every one of these days.
I know that we wanted to put some focus on some of the throughout as many events as we
can, really, to be honest with you guys.
But there are some stuff that is going on that is new too, so just looking at newer events
or things that are going to be a little bit different, want to remind people about some
of those.
Wow.
Okay.
That's a big question.
It's a big, it's a big, it's a big statement.
It's just leave out there for you, but I have my cheat, cheat, we're doing good.
Oh, Macmillan concert series.
Yes.
The Daddy O'Jazz band, it's definitely going to be there.
I think that sounds absolutely wonderful.
It's in a bundle of the stars we've been doing for quite a few years, but it's obviously
going to be a brand new movie, so.
Yeah.
In 20th anniversary of that.
Yes.
That's great.
Wow.
That's really cool.
And it's hard to believe 20 years of that too, but that's a little bit.
Yeah.
I remember the first one actually.
Oh, cool.
And it was on the street on Grand Avenue.
That part I'll never forget.
That brought me back to being in the city and stuff.
I thought that was so cool the way that they laid that out.
I really like the setup they have now and everything, but that was really, in the early
days, that was really cool to see that.
And a great movie choice this year, The Wizard of Oz.
Yes.
That's a perfect one.
Not only family friendly and everything, but I think what's fun about movies like that
is, you know, maybe you've seen it a hundred times or whatever.
You've never seen it like this.
You've never seen it in this way.
And there's something about seeing a movie like that that you've seen a bunch, but maybe
that you're around kids that haven't seen it as much or something that makes it a whole
new experience.
That's a perfect choice for movie.
Absolutely.
You know what?
One of the things I remember about the first one is they had a local band of about 11,
12, 13 year old boys and all those boys are still playing in bands around the state
and the country, actually, how cool is that?
That's kind of neat.
That is.
That's awesome.
So anyway, we can go on.
I mean, Thursday opens the events.
Thursday the 19th opens the events and it kind of opens up with lunch by the river.
So lunch by the river, they'll have some entertainment.
They'll have the, you know, the food trucks and everything.
Of course, cranberry guide will be down there to meet and greet everybody.
So it's kind of the opening up.
And then it moves right in, well, they dive into the world of whales.
Actually, that's starting at 10.30.
Right.
And do that first, come down to lunch and then you can walk over to the Boys and Girls Club
and do chalk it up with the Boys and Girls Club, right in front of their building.
So I love involving the Boys and Girls Club.
We love having them on the show here and everything and the chalk it up.
Chalk it up events in general are always fun and well attended and something where they
and the kids get to feel involved with cranberry blossom fast a little bit more.
And you know, they're a bigger part of it and stuff and there's some many layers to
something like that.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's excellent event.
Very excited, as always, to bring in the carnival.
That's a big one too.
People love the carnival.
And it's just always fun to just say, just know that carnivals are still a thing and
the kids still love them.
I just for me personally, I think that's cool.
Yep.
I understand a couple of new rides this year.
So it'll be interesting.
It always is.
I love a carnival too.
Of course, the carnival food is in here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We got plenty of great food all around town and all throughout the next couple of days
with the cranberry blossom fest.
You're going to have plenty of opportunities for that.
Oh, absolutely.
And you mentioned cinnamon under stars.
The Aqua Ski or Swadderski show.
I did want to mention that as well.
Absolutely.
This year, they're doing a Taladega night.
So I've been out to their practices.
The show's coming along nicely.
That show during cranberry blossom festival, they have found out is one of the biggest ones
draws of the year.
I believe it.
It's really a lot of fun.
They are going to have, I think they're going to have a food truck.
If not a food truck, at least the lemonade stand will be there for you.
So there's that.
It kind of rounds up, well, then Daddy O. Jazz Band at the end of that night.
Kind of rounds out what's happening on Thursday.
And on Friday, we go right into the very very first.
Got to start out your day with a good breakfast and that's a great one.
Yeah, it's going to give you the energy you're going to need for all these events all
weekend.
Yeah.
And then maybe run over to the material girls quilt show and then the carnival.
There's a kids learned fish.
Yeah.
Yeah, I heard about that.
Really enough fun idea too.
That's on Saturday.
Oh, right, right, right.
You're getting ahead of myself.
Me too.
Me too.
I got excited about it.
But I did want to mention as far as wrapping up on Friday, downtown on tap from 5 to 9.
Is this, did I get the right 8th annual?
Has it already been the 8th?
It's the 8th annual live music food.
Really?
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah.
No cost to attend.
They're going to have face painting around there, some food trucks and beverages available.
It's always a great time.
That's a nice one.
Downtown on tap.
Be sure to check that out on Friday, 5 to 9.
And Saturday, June 21st, other great events going on.
Of course, the material girls' show will be back doing their thing.
And the cranberry blossom festival arts and crafts vendor fair.
There we go.
It's a big one.
It's a big one.
Yes, downtown.
Absolutely.
It's a great event.
Lots of vendors, lots of food start up by going to the farmer's market in the morning
and just stay for the afternoon and check out all the vendors and all the food there, too.
One of our favorite mantras here at the studios in downtown here really is buying local supporting
local.
Absolutely.
And this, to me, is one of the, when I say that phrase, it's one of the first things I
think of as our vendors.
Just, you know, people that we don't always think of with this stuff, but you're buying
local and supporting local when it comes to these vendors anytime, whether it's the farmer's
market or it's something like this.
And any opportunity for those individuals to get their goods out there more and all that,
that's a big part of what this is all about is by, you know, supporting each other and
supporting our community and our businesses and that.
And it's a fun way to do that, too, which is a really well done.
Yep.
You know, another fun thing that's going to happen on Saturday, they're having an ice cream
social at the historical museum.
Shout out to Phil in the gang over there at the historical of, you say, because not only
do, are they great?
I tell Phil all the time, you are so good at this stuff at the marketing and the coming
up with ideas for things, the walk that they host and this is another great throwback.
Yes.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
That'll be from one to three on Saturday.
One to three on Saturday.
And it'll be taking place over at this south of a kind of historical museum.
Yeah.
So stop in and see the museum and have a delicious cranberry or vanilla ice cream with cranberry
syrup on it.
Oh god.
That sounds good to me.
Yes.
It sounds so good right now.
We mentioned a cranberry blossom festival carnival, we'll be continuing that on Saturday
as well.
And then the Grand Rapids Lions Club concert will be going on from five to 1030 over at the
Grand Rapids Lions Club.
Absolutely.
And guess what?
All local bands.
Yeah.
Love that.
All local guys.
Again, buying local, supporting local that includes the arts and includes our local musicians,
which I love talking to people out of town and, you know, mentioning to them this band,
this band, this band.
Area has such a great live music scene and great musicians in it.
We really do.
We really, really do.
So that's a showcase for us for the Lions Club.
That'll be great.
Yeah.
And then things wrap up on Sunday, June 22nd.
They do.
Yes.
They will have, of course, again, the very fest raffle ongoing throughout all of this.
I will actually kind of wrap up with you on that Maggie if you don't mind.
But also going on on Sunday, June 22nd, Wisconsin's police department is hosting a kids fishing
contest.
Yeah.
Big shout out to the WRPD.
Do great things when it comes to this stuff.
Yeah.
You know, there are a lot of layers that I've talked to Sheriff Becker about when it comes
to these things and stuff too, but it's just fun, certainly for the kids.
But I know talking with these guys a lot and everything, it's so much fun for them and
they don't have a lot of those moments.
So having those fun, light moments for our officers, for our individuals out there keeping
us safe, it's really cool for them too.
Well, and it gets the kids understanding that they're not the bad guys.
Yeah, they're the good guys.
It's building that bridge more and more between community and our police departments and
Sheriff departments and all that.
Any time to do that is always good and positive.
And fun.
This is a fun one.
I know that much, the kids, I enjoy that.
And that carnival will continue, of course.
And the cranberry blossom, blossom festival parade, one of the bigger parts of all of this,
and also mentioning, certainly, the Wisconsin Fire Department's Duck Derby, which is another
famous part of this one.
These two kind of lean into each other, right?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
The festival parade runs from like the Boys of Girls Club across the bridge up the hill
and disperses and the Duck Derby is held directly after that, dumping the ducks off the bridge
on.
I can't think of the name of the bridge.
The Jackson Street Bridge.
Jackson Street Bridge.
There we go.
The Jackson Street Bridge, and seeing who wins, and you know, it's a fun tradition.
It's been around for a long time, and I got to have the guys in and talk to them about
how long they've been doing this, because I'm curious, but you know, everything I was saying
about our Sheriff and Police Department, same thing with our Wisconsin Firefighters Department,
and the charitable foundation that really hosts all this.
So a big thank you to them and another opportunity for them to have some fun in the community
and along with the kids who really, really enjoy this vibe.
Yes.
Yes.
It's a great one.
It's a great set of days, and it really highlights so much of this community, of this area,
and some of the best people you're going to meet are hosting these events or volunteering
in these events.
We appreciate every one of those individuals.
Maggie, real quick, before I do let you go here and everything, there's just a couple
of things I wanted to touch on.
One of them is the prep and the planning that goes into this.
So we mentioned that Sunday, July 22nd, June 22nd, sorry, Sunday, June 22nd, is when things
wrap up.
So I imagine on the 23rd is when you start planning for next year.
You guys, you got to have a lot of, you got to prep a lot of for this event, I imagine.
We do.
We do.
Which brings me to, I'd like to think, you know, some of our sponsors.
They have been behind us from the beginning.
I've been with the cranberry blossom festival almost since its inception.
And a lot of these sponsors have been right there sponsoring us all along.
So our presenting sponsor, Ho-Chunk Gaming from Nikusa, again, Ben, they're all along.
Wood Trust Bank, Wisconsin River, Orthopedics, Whittlesley, Cranberry, Glacier Lake Cranberry,
45 Mercantile, US Bank.
Thank you.
I mean, I can't thank you enough.
Yeah.
And we have many, many more sponsors as we go down, you know, down the line, our media
sponsors.
Thank you to you guys, James, to WFHR for bringing us on and allowing us to get the word
out in this way.
It's amazing.
The Grand Rapids Lions Club is a heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce and visit Wisconsin
Rapids, three of our biggies, the Grand Rapids Lions Club with using their event space.
We had a terrible time when the mall sold and the carnival could no longer be down there.
I was around.
We moved it.
We had it downtown for a few years and the carnival didn't like that because they couldn't
put up their big things because of the lines, the overhead lines and stuff.
It was pretty.
It was really neat to have it down there, but it just didn't work.
We tried one year out behind the Southwood County Hockey, yeah, that place.
That was tough too.
And then the next year we went to the Grand Rapids Lions and we did some talking.
We came to an agreement, but they run the carnival now.
That's their baby, that's, they take care of it, so that's really nice.
They take a lot of pride in that.
They're another group of great people that we join us all the time when we talk with.
When that comes up and that subject comes up, they get so excited and they just really
enjoy hosting that.
They take a lot of pride in that.
It's another great one to take in and all of those great sponsors along with every other
sponsor involved with this one.
I personally, our studios, our company, thanks you, appreciate you being a part of these
things.
So much, all the individuals that are just doing that day-to-day stuff and the things that
really keep this event popular and going year after year, big thank you to everybody.
And certainly to you, Maggie and the team, we appreciate all the work you guys put in.
Well, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Kind of a laborer love.
Right.
Yeah.
I can relate, I can relate.
It's kind of one of those things.
It's not going down on my roll.
That's so.
Right on.
You just keep going.
Well, as long as I'm in this chair, we'll be talking with you.
We'll be having you guys on.
Very good.
You can find out more information about all this, start making plans.
Everything is kicking off Thursday, June 19th for cranberry blossom fest 2025.
Go to blossomfest.com to find more information, blossomfest.com.
And you can also follow them at social media, share their posts on your page.
You just never know who might see them otherwise.
And Maggie, if people have fault questions or one of them more, I see there's a contact
thing on the website.
Should we just send them there?
Yes.
Absolutely.
Go to blossomfest.com again to find out more information and start making plans to help
celebrate our area like no other event does the cranberry blossom fest kicking off on
June 19th.
Maggie, thank you so much for joining us.
Well, thank you for having me.
And thank you all for joining us here for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.